Fridge for thawing and aging

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a fridge for thawing and aging, and it comprises a body  11  having inner space  12,  a cooling unit  13,  an inner panel  21  forming an inner wall facing the inner space  12  and being applied or impregnated by the functional materials  22  being capable of emitting anions or far-infrared radiations, a heating unit and a fan unit  30  whose exhaust hole  33  is disposed near to the inner panel  21  to exhaust the air against to or along the inner panel  21  of the body  11.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a fridge for thawing and aging, and moreparticularly to a fridge for thawing and aging which is capable ofeffectively circulating functional materials such as anion generated inthe storage of the fridge or air flow.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, fridges for thawing and aging are used to heat the innerspace of the storage of the fridge to a predetermined temperature aswell as to supply cool air to the storage of the fridge similarly toordinary refrigerator. For example, the fridges for thawing and aging,such as a food aging apparatus or a bread making machine can supply heatand moisture to the storage to achieve rapid aging of dough, or it canthaw frozen food materials. These fridges for thawing and aging aregenerally provided with a cooling unit to keep the storage at lowtemperature, and also are provided with a heater or a steam generator tothaw frozen food materials or to supply moisture. But if thawingprocessing is not properly managed, as the moisture or gravy may bespilled out, the taste of foods may be changed, or as various bacteriacan be propagated and the food materials can be spoiled, and theexpiration date of the food materials can be shorten.

Recently, in order to solve the above mentioned problems, devices togenerate functional materials such as anions or far-infrared radiationsare added to the fridge for thawing and aging, but these conventionaldevices to generate the anions or far-infrared radiations also haveproblem such that it should use high voltage, which incurs safetyproblems and increased cost of manufacturing. And these fridges alsohave some difficulties of how to circulate the generated functionalmaterials such as anions or functional materials in the storage of thefridge effectively.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

The invention is proposed to solve the above problems, and the object ofthe invention is to provide a fridge for thawing and aging in which thegenerated functional materials such as anions can be effectivelycirculated in the storage of the fridge by inducing air flow toward theside wall of the storage with simple structure to highly enhance theinherent function of the fridge.

Technical Solution

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a fridge forthawing and aging wherein the fridge comprises;

a body 11 having inner space 12;

a cooling unit 13 installed on one side of the body 12 to maintain theinner space 12 at the predetermined low temperature;

an inner panel 21 forming an inner wall facing the inner space 12 andbeing applied or impregnated by the functional materials 22 beingcapable of emitting anions or far-infrared radiations;

a heating unit 16 installed in the inner space 12 to heat the innerspace 12 and the surface of the inner panel 21; and

a fan unit 30 mounted on the upper part of the inner space 12 tocirculate air in the inner space 12, which includes a blowing case 32having an intake hole 34 on one side of it and an exhaust hole 33 on theother side of it, a blowing fan 31 mounted on the intake hole 34 tointake air in the inner space 12, wherein the exhaust hole 33 isdisposed near to the inner panel 21 to exhaust the air against to oralong the inner panel 21 of the body 11.

According to the other aspect of the invention, there is provided afridge for thawing and aging wherein, the fridge further includesshelves 40 in the inner space 12 of the body 11, which comprises racks42 on which food material is placed, and rack supporters 41 on which theracks 42 are supported, wherein the ends of the racks 42 are separatedapart from the inner panel 21 of the body 11 to form circulation spacebetween the inner panel 21 and the racks 42.

Advantageous Effect

According to the invention, as the fridge for thawing and aging includesinner panel 21 being applied or impregnated by the functional materialsbeing capable of emitting anions or far-infrared radiation, and a fanunit 16 mounted on the upper part of the inner space 12 and including ablowing case 32 having an intake hole 34 on one side of it and anexhaust hole 33 on the other side of it, a blowing fan 31 mounted on theintake hole 34 and the exhaust hole 33 being disposed near to the innerpanel 21 to exhaust the air against to or along the inner panel 21 ofthe body 11, the anions or other functional materials emitted from theinner panel 21 can be effectively and smoothly circulated in the innerspace 12 to be uniformly distributed, so the uniformly distributedanions or other functional materials can contact the food materials toachieve uniform and enhanced thawing and aging effects regardless of theplaced position of the food materials in the inner space 12 of the body11.

And, as the shelves 40 in the inner space 12 includes racks 42, the endsof which are separated apart from the inner panel 21 of the body 11, theair circulation in the inner space 12 can be effectively carried outwithout being blocked by the racks 42 themselves or the food materialsplaced on the racks 42, so the functional materials such as anions caneffectively contact the food materials so the food materials can bemaintained fresh.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front section of one embodiment of the invention

FIG. 2 is a side section of the above embodiment of the invention

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 3

FIG. 4 is an inner view of the embodiment of the invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the preferred embodiment of the invention will be describedwith reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 to 4 show one embodiment of theinvention. As shown, a fridge for thawing and aging 10 of the inventionincludes a body 11 having inner space 12, a cooling unit 13, a steamgenerator 14, and a control panel 15 to control these parts on the upperside. In the inner space 12 of the body 1, a heating unit 16 for thawingor aging food materials and a plural of shelves 40 on which foodmaterials are placed are provided, and a fan unit 30 is provided on theceiling to circulate the air in the inner space 12. More detailedstructure and operation will be described below in reference with FIGS.2 and 3.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an insulation 30 is inserted inside the outercase 18 of the body 11, and an inner panel 21 is provided in the insideof the insulation 30 to form an inner wall of the fridge. Functionalmaterials to emit anions or far-infrared radiations are applied orimpregnated on the inner panel 21. For example, the functional materialsto be applied or impregnated on the inner panel 21 may be paintmaterials in which rock powder such as mica, feldspar, shale orserpentine are mixed with acrylic emulsion, which can emit anions orfar-infrared radiations to reduce bad smell or harmful components, andprevent from propagating of harmful bacteria or fungus as well. Thesefunctional materials themselves are already known ones.

These functional materials 22 can easily emit anions or far-infraredradiations by heating the inner space 12 to a proper temperature by theheating unit 16 during the thawing and aging process. The heating unit16 includes a heater case 23 disposed on the side wall of the innerspace 12 and a heating element 17 in it. Inlet 24 and outlet are formedon the heater case 23 to intake and exhaust air.

The fan unit 30 is provided to blow the cool air supplied by the coolingunit 13 to the inner space 12, or to circulate air in the inner space12. For this, the fan unit 30 includes a blowing case 32 having anintake hole 34 on one side of it and an exhaust hole 33 on the otherside of it, a blowing fan 31 mounted on the intake hole 34 to intake airin the inner space 12, and the exhaust hole 33 is disposed near to theinner panel 21 to exhaust the air against to or along the inner panel 21of the body 11.

The fan unit 30 is mounted on the ceiling of the inner space 12corresponding to the cooling unit 13, and a blowing case 32 encasing theblowing fan 31. The blowing fan 31 may be a turbo fan capable of airintake air and air exhaust. In the illustrated embodiment, the exhausthoe 33 of the fan unit 30 is disposed on the rear wall panel, but it canbe disposed on either of the side wall panel, and according to thevolume of the fridge, a plural of fan units 30 can be provided.

According to the structure mentioned above, when the fan unit 30circulates the air in the inner space 12, the anions or far-infraredradiations can be effectively circulated or spread, so the anions orfar-infrared radiations can be uniformly distributed in the inner space12 of the fridge 10. According to the invention, the air circulation canbe easily carried out in case that the racks 42 of the selves 40 areinstalled with multi-layer in the inner space 12 as below.

The selves 40 includes racks 42 and rack supporters 41. The racksupporters 41 are in shape of rectangular bar and mounted on the rearwall or side wall of the body 11 vertically, and the racks 42 are placedon the rack supporters 41 with multi-layer along vertical direction. Therack supporter 41 includes a base frame 43 in the shape of rectangularbar and a hanging strip 44 attached on the base frame 43. Pluralengaging holes 45 are formed along the hanging strip 44. An engagingbracket 46 can be engaged in the engaging holes 45 of the hanging strip44, and the rack 42 can be placed on the engaging bracket 46. The rack42 can be a plate type or it may be a wired net type. And additionaltray 47 can be added according to the types of food materials. Theseracks 42 of the selves 40 are separated apart from the inner panel 21 toenhance the air circulation in the inner space 12 as described below.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rack supporter 41 is mounted on the inner panel21 with being projected from the inner panel 21 as much as the thicknessof the rack supporter 41. So the selves 40 of the invention should beseparated apart from the inner panel 21 of the body 11 as the edge ofthe rack 42 is engaged with the rack supporter 41. Therefore, the gapbetween inner panel 21 and the edge of the rack 42 can form acirculation path 34 of the air containing the functional materials.

According to the structure of the self 40 mentioned above, the air blownby the fan unit 30 positioned on the upper part of the inner space 12can flow effectively without being blocked, so anions or otherfunctional materials emitted from the inner panel 21 can be effectivelyand smoothly circulated in the inner space 12 to be uniformlydistributed, so the uniformly distributed anions or other functionalmaterials can contact the food materials to achieve uniform and enhancedthawing and aging effects regardless of the placed position of the foodmaterials in the inner space 12 of the body 11. The numeral 50 refers awheel mounted on the body 11 and the door 18 so that the fridge can bemoved easily.

1. A fridge for thawing and aging wherein the fridge comprises; a body11 having inner space 12; a cooling unit 13 installed on one side of thebody 12 to maintain the inner space 12 at the predetermined lowtemperature; an inner panel 21 forming an inner wall facing the innerspace 12 and being applied or impregnated by the functional materials 22being capable of emitting anions or far-infrared radiations; a heatingunit 16 installed in the inner space 12 to heat the inner space 12 andthe surface of the inner panel 21; and a fan unit 30 mounted on theupper part of the inner space 12 to circulate air in the inner space 12,which includes a blowing case 32 having an intake hole 34 on one side ofit and an exhaust hole 33 on the other side of it, a blowing fan 31mounted on the intake hole 34 to intake air in the inner space 12,wherein the exhaust hole 33 is disposed near to the inner panel 21 toexhaust the air against to or along the inner panel 21 of the body 11.2. A fridge for thawing and aging of claim 1 wherein, the fridge furtherincludes shelves 40 in the inner space 12 of the body 11, whichcomprises racks 42 on which food material is placed, and rack supporters41 on which the racks 42 are supported, wherein the ends of the racks 42are separated apart from the inner panel 21 of the body 11 to formcirculation space between the inner panel 21 and the racks 42.